Monday, September 10, 2012

Corn Soup

The thing about corn is that it always confuses me. I picture long days of eating corn on the cob, savoring each burst of the kernels under the hot summer sun...but then every year the harsh reality sets in -corn doesnt come into season until late summer. Of course, once it's here, I tend to take every opportunity to enjoy it. When I was thinking up dishes for what to bring to our Progressive Dinner party, I knew I wanted to do something with fresh local corn. I was tasked with second course, which I translated into Soup and a salad....Corn Soup of course.

Corn soup is always just slightly tricky. I find that often it's so loaded down with cream that it turns into much more of an indulgence than wanted, or its thinned with wines or beers and the flavors overpower the sweet, delicate flavor of the vegetable. I wanted to make a fluffy, flavorful, light (er), corn soup.

I began with six ears of corn, freshly shucked (I beg of you-shuck your corn at home before you eat it- NOT in the store- it just loses moisture) and set them steam above three bottles of Harpoon UFO White beer and two sweet onios, quartered. Once the corn was cooked, I removed it from the cob, placed it in my food processor with 4 teaspoons of butter (sorry kids had to happen), and ladeled in some of the reduced, boiled beer to think it out. I pulsed and pureed, added more of the boiled beer, and salt and pepper to taste. Then comes the "fun" part. Once the the corn has been thinned by the beer mix, use any small hole collander to strain out the larger bits of corn, and use the back of a spoon to push the liquid through. Set aside the thick mash that results, and once all of the corn has been sifted through, redeposit the mash back into the food processor, and add another bottle of beer, plus one of water to the original steaming pot with the leftover onions. Boil until the alcohol has cooked out of the beer and add the liquid to the food processor. Repeat the steps finally setting aside the mash either for corn cakes or for trash and preserving the liquid.

The resulting, which can be served at room temperature without any adornment has all of the beautiful flavor of fresh corn with just a background hint of beer, salt and pepper. I enjoyed every bite as though I was biting into a fresh ear of corn that I'd buttered salt and peppered and was enjoying with an ice cold beer. It was a perfect soup with a light consistency and full rich flavor.